#TBRChallenge 2017: Christmas With Her Boss

The Book: Christmas with her Boss by Marion Lennox

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance #4205, 2010, Out of Print, Available in Digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  It was recommended by someone.  I want to say Sunita?  However, I unearthed it from the depths of the print TBR because Miss Bates has been championing Lennox of late and we tend to be simpatico when it comes to Harlequin.

The Review: Sweet baby, sleeping in the manger, Christmas morning Jesus - where has Marion Lennox been all my life?  Oh, writing a bazillion books for Harlequin.  You've just never read her before Wendy.  You dunderhead.  What a way to end the TBR Challenge for 2017.  Finding a huge backlist I want to glom.

Meg Jardine is in a panic.  She's a personal assistant to billionaire businessman WS McMaster for when he's in his Australian office.  He's a demanding boss who expects a PA to be at his beck and call and keep things running smoothly.  A high pressure job but ideal for Meg's life circumstances.  Her current task is to get him back to Manhattan in time for Christmas.  Minor problem: an air traffic controller's strike.  All flights are grounded.  There is literally no way Mr. McMaster is getting out of Australia.  On top of that, because of all the grounded flights the hotels are booked solid.  She is well and truly screwed...and not in a good way.

William is unthrilled.  Really, like he asks that much of his PA?  She screws up his travel plans?!  OK, so it's not entirely her fault but he's still miffed.  And now she's suggesting that since there's no hotels available and the building is going to be shut down all weekend (no AC, in Australia, in December? He'd melt within 15 minutes) he can come home with her.  Literally with no other option, he agrees.  Not realizing that home means Meg, her grandmother and her teenage half-brother out in the middle of nowhere on a dairy farm.  With the Internet down.  And crap cell phone reception.  Maybe he can swim back to Manhattan?

We all know what happens next.  The buttoned-up suit who keeps his staff at arms length (it's "Ms. Jardine" and "Mr. McMaster") ends up falling for his lovely assistant once close proximity and "adventures" happen.  Raised by distant parents, William is living a temporary life.  He has temporary girlfriends, temporary staff depending on what city he's in, and temporary friends.  For once in his life he actually has holiday plans which is why he's so desperate to get back to Manhattan and so annoyed with Meg for not making it happen.

Meg is haunted by the death of her parents, her half-brother's medical issues and a grandmother who is still spry but not getting any younger.  When she's not at William's beck and call as a PA, she's stationed at the family homestead living the life of a dairy farmer.  Short answer - Meg doesn't really have a life that doesn't involve her loving family and cows.  Dating?  Yeah, not so much.  Romance?  Well one of her heifers got loose and met an enterprising bull - but that doesn't really count.  She's attracted to William because, hello, the man is hot.  But she's very aware of professional boundaries and the fact that he's "out of her league."  She's not the sort to even entertain the fantasy of William McMaster but once they're away from work and all those professional boundaries get stripped away?  All bets are off.

What I liked about this story was how cozy it felt and the hot Australian Christmas weather was a nice change of pace from the usual Romancelandia holiday fa-la-la-la-la.  It's also a boss/secretary romance where both characters are very aware of professional boundaries and the importance of keeping them.  Once they cross over that line (and this is a Harlequin Romance, so we're talking about a kiss not a roll in the hay...), both characters struggle with what they have done.  It makes up the majority of the second half conflict and the Black Moment.

This all being said, as much as I loved this story (OMG, COMFORT READ ALERT!), the romance isn't quite as strong as I'd like.  William is emotionally distant, kind of a foreboding ass early on, and the story takes place over a weekend - well it's just hard to go from that to jumping into "I love you, let's get married."  Yeah, they work together and yeah they learn a lot about each other over the course of the story, but it still comes off as rather fast.

But heck, it's a holiday romance and it ticks all the boxes.  In a year when not many books held my attention for more than a chapter at a time, I wanted everyone and everything to leave me the heck alone so I could read.  I'm reading.  Don't bother me unless someone is on fire and even then...tell me who is on fire first so I can decide if I want to put this book down.  I'm going to ding this on the lower end of the B rating scale, but really - it was so lovely and so....well just so.  Now I'm off to scour the TBR to see if I have any more Marion Lennox lurking there.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2017: The Marshal and Mrs. O'Malley

The Book: The Marshal and Mrs. O'Malley by Julianne MacLean

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Harlequin Historical #564, 2001, Out of Print (sort of), Rights reverted back to author and book republished under the title Tempting the Marshal in 2016.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Author Susanna Kearsley gave me this book.  She brought it special to an RWA Conference (and I'm sorry, I can't remember what year!), told me it was one of her favorite westerns, and she gifted it to me.  Yes, when it comes to historical westerns and Harlequins, my reputation precedes me.

The Review: I didn't love this as much as Susanna did, but it's easy to understand why she was drawn to it.  As far as plots go, MacLean was obviously hit with some divine inspiration when she cooked up this one.  There's a sophistication to the Big Secret that you just don't see every day.

Josephine "Jo" O'Malley wants vengeance.  The most powerful man in town, Zeb Stone, owner of the dry goods store and running for mayor, murdered her husband Edwyn.  And nobody is going to do anything about it given Zeb's influence and the fact that the local law is as useless as decaffeinated tea (seriously, just wrong).  So she does what any self-respecting romance heroine is wont to do - she dresses up in men's clothing, takes her herself and her gun down to Zeb's store and plans to shoot the man right between the eyes.  To protect her son, Leo, she's willing to commit murder.

What she didn't bargain on was Fletcher Collins, the new marshal that, literally, just rode into town.  He's walking the business district when he sees Zeb being robbed at gunpoint in his store.  The culprit is of slight build, making him think he's no more than a boy, and the look in the kid's eyes?  Yeah, that's no killer.  Naturally though, stuff happens.  Fletcher ends up getting shot (and knocked out cold) and the bandit gets away.

Great.  So not only did Jo chicken out and not shoot Zeb but she ended up shot for her trouble.  She's gotten dressed in the women's clothing she left out by the privy to aid her escape when she nearly passes out cold and the town deputy finds her.  That's how both she and Fletcher both end up at the doctor's office getting treated for gunshot wounds and she quickly realizes...he doesn't know that it was her trying to shoot Zeb.  Everybody thinks she was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.  But that begs the question - what was she doing in town, alone, at that time of night?  Because dang, Fletcher Collins is just the sort of persistent lawman who will not let something like this go - especially since he's now been humiliated during his first night on the job.  

Making everything even more complicated?  Turns out Zeb is Fletcher's brother-in-law.  Leaving Jo not only in a panic that she'll be found out, but that she and her boy are still in danger, there's no hard evidence that Zeb murdered her husband and who is going to help her?  Certainly not the man's brother-in-law and new town marshal! 

Yes, it's all very involved but MacLean totally makes it work.  Jo is the bandit and Fletcher doesn't know that.  Fletcher is willing to listen to Jo about her suspicions but isn't about to just take her word for it that Zeb is A Bad Man without some actual proof he can sink his teeth into.  Plus, you know, the guy is married to his sister.  But he is willing to listen to her and doesn't dismiss her accusations outright, a refreshing quality in a good romance hero.  Then, of course, there's the small matter of the pair being attracted to each other, and how is that possibly going to work?  Jo did try to kill a man, Fletcher is a very black or white, law and order, sort of guy, plus there's baggage for both of them.  Fletcher's feelings for his late father.  Jo's marriage and her feelings for her dead husband.

The best moments in this story for me were once Fletcher realizes that Jo and his bandit are one and the same and the pair join forces to investigate Zeb.  I did feel they were a little slow on the uptake regarding Zeb's shenanigans (frankly, it's obvious) but these are two characters who treat each other like adults, listen to each other, and work as a team - which plays well within this story.

The ending does feel a bit rushed, especially since the first half or so of the book feels more methodical, but it ends the way you want it to end although dagnabit, I don't think MacLean ever has written about a book about Zeb's wife/Fletcher's sister, and that's simply a crying shame.

I'm currently mired in a wicked slump, in large part thanks to recently relocating the Bat Cave (moving has a way of sucking any joy out of my life) and while this book didn't light a fire in me, I zipped through it over the course of two lunch breaks at The Day Job.  If I wasn't in such a persnickety reading mood I think I would rate this one higher - which means if you dig historical westerns, this is one I think you should pick up.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2017: Toxic

The Book: Toxic by Carol Ericson

The Particulars: Romantic suspense, 2014, Harlequin Intrigue Noir, Digital only, Not available in print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  I saw the word "noir" and that was enough for me.  Harlequin published seven novellas as part of this mini-series for Harlequin Intrigue in late 2014 / early 2015.  I restrained myself (for once) and only one-clicked this one.  I'm not sure why I chose this one to start with.  My guess?  The back cover blurb intrigued me and Ericson is a local author.

The Review: I love noir.  I love the tone of it, the feel of it, the dubious characters with questionable motives.  Heck, I even love the stereotypical femme fatales.  Gimme, gimme, gimme.  To sink me even further?  Ericson sets this story in a backwater burg in Florida.  Folks, when it comes to noir there are two quintessential settings when we're talking the US: Los Angeles, and anywhere in southern Florida.  This isn't just my opinion, this is fact.

J.P. McCoy was a Chicago cop until his love of booze killed his career.  Now sober, and a private investigator, he takes a job that sends him to Crystal Water, Florida.  A powerful man is looking for his mistress, who has taken off.  He tells J.P. to check out the Seychelles, a bar run by a former Vegas showgirl, Ronnie Tate.  That's where Maya was working before she disappeared.

J.P. takes one look at Ronnie and wants to get to know her in all the right (and wrong) ways.  He goes in posing as a guy looking for a job, and lucky for him, Ronnie's regular bartender has been unreliable.  Now to snoop around for the missing Maya without drawing Ronnie's suspicion.

Ronnie is a classic tough girl with a mysterious past.  She's running the bar, not because she enjoys it, but because it's the only thing of semi-value that her much-older husband left her.  Everything else went to his kids, who think their much younger stepmother is a gold digging floozy who probably had something to do with their father's death.  Lucky for Ronnie the good old boy police chief wants to get in her panties and the medical examiner ruled the death as an accidental overdose.  However, these are minor annoyances for Ronnie.  Nothing to get excited about.  Her sexy new bartender?  Now there's something to get excited about it.  And it's all banter and flirting and sexy times on the bar (seriously) until a dead body shows up and ruins everything.

This is the sort of story that's all about the style. I'm such an easy mark, the feel of this story, the tone of it, the over-the-top noir-style elements - I was sunk before I even finished the first chapter.  Is it a "realistic" read?  Look, is any noir realistic?  It's over-the-top seedy glamour and I was here for it all day long.

That being said, this is a novella and there are shortcuts.  Ericson gets the readers from Point A to Point C while skipping B. There are leaps taken to move the story forward, and in a crime story?  That's not necessarily a good thing.  I found myself saying, "But wait, how did they find that out?" or "But wait, when did that element come to light?"  There's a credible suspense plot here, but it would have benefited from being closer to length of a regular Intrigue word count to pull it off a bit better.

The romance is...well, fast.  This felt very much like an erotic romance and the sex is definitely steamier than what one typically finds in the regular Intrigue line.  The first sex scene between Ronnie and J.P is a doozy and there's several more encounters that occur over the course of this short novella (Amazon says 124 pages).  So if steam is your thing, this one certainly can fog up some glasses.

True to form for a romance, there's a happy ever after.  True to form for a noir story, the ending is morally ambiguous.  If you're looking for the white picket fence and Ronnie round with child while baking cookies in the kitchen?  Yeah, not so much.  But it's also not on the level of say, J.P. being a mafia boss or sex trafficker.  It's not THAT morally ambiguous.

This is a hard story for me to ultimately assign a grade to because I do see that it's not perfect.  There are issues here, mostly in the short word count and shortcuts the author took.  But man, I loved reading this.  It spoke to that nostalgic reader part of my brain - the girl who sat on the floor of her local small town library and browsed through stacks of mystery and crime novels.  Of course I'll be picking up the rest of the books in the Noir series.  How could I not?

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2017: Jared's Runaway Woman

The Book: Jared's Runaway Woman by Judith Stacy

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Harlequin Historical #801, 2006, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I tend to like Judith Stacy more often than not - plus hello?  Harlequin Historical. A western.  Of course it's in my TBR.

The Review: I'm not going to lie - this book is problematic in a major way but what it gets right it REALLY gets right - and I literally inhaled this baby in one sitting.  As in I started it very late at night thinking "a chapter or two before bed" and there I was around 1:30AM finally finishing the last chapter and too wired from my gorging at the book trough to go to sleep until around 2:30AM.  Given the sad state of my reading mojo, heck yeah this one is getting a decent final grade from me.

Jared Mason is the oldest brother in a New Money family that made their fortune in construction.  All the brothers are in the business, including the one closest to Jared's age - Clark.  Clark met his wife, Beth, while he was in Virginia on a job.  They fell in love, got married - and then tragedy struck. Clark died in an accident.  Beth shipped his body and belongings home to his family in New York and then poof!  Vanished.  Nearly five years later, Jared's mother finally decides to go through Clark's things and finds a half-finished letter.  Beth had just found out she was pregnant!  She vanished after Clark's death, and Amelia wants her grandchild.  Pinkertons are hired and the trail leads to Crystal Springs, Colorado.  Jared puts a job in Maine on hold and heads to Colorado, determined to find his brother's widow and his niece and/or nephew.

Kinsey Templeton has been running for five years, working menial jobs and doing her best to care for her son, Sam, alone.  After years of looking over her shoulder she's landed in Crystal Springs - working two jobs to make ends meet.  She likes it in town and Sam is happy.  Still, she tries to check every stage and train that rolls into town - something that has gotten trickier of late since the town is booming.  That's when she spies Jared Mason and she knows that her luck as run out.

Jared never met his brother's wife, so while Jared and Kinsey don't have a shared history, I would still classify this as an Enemies to Lovers story.  They're at cross purposes.  Kinsey, like most mothers, will fight until her last dying breath to protect her son - and that includes protection from the Mason family.  Jared will do anything to bring his nephew home, into the family fold, so the child can claim his birthright.  At first blush, he wants Kinsey to come back to New York as well - the Masons will take care of her - and is shocked when she outright refuses to the point of belligerence.  She's determined they stay, and Jared is determined that Sam goes back to New York.  The first half of this book is basically the hero and heroine waging war against each other with 5-year-old Sam caught in the middle.

So yeah, it's not exactly pleasant even though the author does have a light touch and God bless her, Kinsey ain't no pushover.  She's a heroine who will fight dirty.

It gets better in the second half, which is where this story really sings.  For one thing, earlier in the proceedings, the author throws in a really well done twist.  Then we finally get to the moment where Kinsey and Jared come to an uneasy truce.  This involves him staying in town, getting roped in to building a new church (the old one burned down), the various small town dramas that fill out some nicely done secondary story lines, getting to know his nephew...and Kinsey.  There's an immediate attraction between Kinsey and Jared bordering on Insta-Lust, but instead of jumping into bed right away, the author unfolds it as a slow burn with an undercurrent of tension that sizzles between them throughout the story (aside from the tension involving Sam).  I believed in this romance.

But what makes this story, what truly makes it, is that this is a romance where the men (remember those secondary story lines I alluded to?) make sacrifices for the women.  Given the "small town" vibe of this setting and romance, the role reversals in this story read like a breath of fresh air (OK, so the book was published over 10 years ago - but you know what I mean).  Naturally Kinsey and Jared have kept some things private - Kinsey, her reasons for not wanting the Masons near Sam ; Jared, the reason behind his determination to bring Clark's son home to New York.  The resolution for Kinsey in this one aspect is dealt with, but it doesn't have a stinging air of finality - which I did want.  But that said?  Given Jared's declaration of his feelings for her, and those sacrifices I mentioned, I would have overlooked a tacked on serial killer subplot or a martian beaming down from outer space.  So it's hard to quibble over the lack of spoon-feeding in that one instance.

No, it's not perfect.  You've got two grown adults at war with each other and a child in the middle.  It's only Stacy's light touch that keeps this from being totally unpalatable.  But for readers who can persevere (and "the twist" certainly helped propel me forward!), the second half was a joy to read.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2017: Drive Me Wild by Elizabeth Harbison

The Book: Drive Me Wild by Elizabeth Harbison

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Special Edition #1476, 2002, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: The blurb intrigued me and the amusement park / carnival backdrop on the cover reeled me in.  It's stayed in my TBR all this time (and dodged weeding) because I read another Harbison (Diary of a Domestic Goddess) during my TRR days and really enjoyed it.

The Review: What we have here ladies and gents is the very definition of a Chocolate Chip Cookie Read.  It's tasty, you can't stop yourself from gorging, but it's not a "meal" you rave about to all your friends a week after the fact.  In a nutshell?  It's the sort of romantic comedy that Lifetime would option for a TV movie.

Grace Bowes couldn't wait to leave the small town of Blue Moon Bay in the dust.   She married the high school football star, a union that produced a son (Jimmy), and she settled into life as a stay-at-home Mom.  Then one day her husband announces he wants a divorce, which she saw coming.  She probably would have gotten around to asking for one eventually, it's just Michael pulled the trigger first.  But not before she learned that their well-heeled, upper-middle-class lifestyle was all smoke and mirrors.  Their garage sales became legendary.  She and Jimmy are now back in Blue Moon Bay, living with her mother, and Grace is discovering former housewives don't have a ton of marketable skills, even in a small town economy.  She's got one option.  Her former school needs a bus driver.

Yes, a bus driver.

Luke Stewart used to have a it bad for Grace, but she was his best friend's girl.  Then there was a fateful night when he gave her a ride home from the boardwalk and they partook in some "reindeer games."  But ultimately Grace opted to stay with Michael and Luke stayed in his hometown nursing a broken heart.  Well, now Grace is back and guess who would be her new boss, assuming she can convince him she's cut out to be a bus driver?  Yeah.

There's a lot to like here, most notably that Harbison doesn't make a muck of things that could have easily been mucked up.  For one thing, the details about being a school bus driver.  Grace doesn't just waltz in and get the job.  No.  You need a commercial driver's license, which she doesn't have, which requires a test, and that test?  Besides the road test, Grace has to be able to identify all the various bits and bobs on a bus.

Luke, of course, has preconceived notions about Grace - not only because of his unrequited feelings for her, but also because Michael planted erroneous information in his head.  I wouldn't go so far as to call this Enemy to Lovers, but there's some definite friction between Luke and Grace, which creates some nicely well done verbal sparring matches early on.  It infuses a nice amount of humor into the narrative.

What doesn't work so well?  The author kind of loses her way a bit towards the end involving funding issues the school is having.  It's how those funding issues are resolved that were a bit fantastical, but it's the kind of thing that small town contemporary readers will be used to and likely gobble up.  I also felt like the romance ran a little fast to the finish line.  These are two characters with a history, and the author has an extended time line (several months) - but a marriage proposal seemed like a little much to me.

But what makes up for it all is that The Ex stays off page.  I seriously read this whole category waiting for Michael to show up on page, spread a bunch of BS around, and drive a wedge between the couple to spur the reader towards the HEA.  And...no.  Harbison avoids that all too common cliche.  Which is ultimately what I'll remember about this book.  The avoidance of well worn plot devices and the fact that the heroine drives a school bus.  No, this won't change your life - but it's quick, breezy and just the sort of lighthearted palate cleansing book you keep around when you're tired of Angst-O-Rama-Jama.  Break glass in case of emergency.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2017: The Millionaire Meets His Match

The Book: The Millionaire Meets His Match by Kate Carlisle

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Desire #2023, Out of Print, Available Digitally, First book in series.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Carlisle is a local author and I've corralled her for a couple of library events over the years.  My copy of this book is autographed, so my guess is I probably picked it up at an RWA Conference.  Plus, this is a boss/secretary romance and they're my catnip.  Yes, yes, I know.  I'm part of the problem.

The Review: Carlisle is better known for her cozy mysteries but from 2010 to 2013 she wrote half a dozen books for Desire.  This is the first in a trilogy about three adopted brothers who are doing their darnedest to avoid their mother's matchmaking schemes.

Adam Duke is the CEO of Duke Development, an outfit that specializes in luxury resorts.  He's in the midst of a huge project when his very capable, very indispensable assistant quits.  Just walks out and quits.  Apparently being three months pregnant, planning her wedding, and working around the clock for Adam wore her down to the nub.  The head of HR, who also happens to be his mother's BFF, says don't worry.  She'll get someone from the "floater pool."  Adam thinks this is a terrible idea, even if their floaters are a cut above.  She sends him Trish James, sexy, curvaceous, and a dynamite PA.  He's quite pleased with this new development until he realizes - wait a minute.  His head of HR is his Mom's BFF.  His Mom who keeps harping on marriage and grandbabies and....OMG, is Trish a plant?!

Trish is not a plant.  She's a spy.  She was raised by her grandmother who owned an antique shop in a quaint shopping center.  The other people who owned businesses in that center became like family.  Then the owner died, his kids sold the building to the highest bidder, and that was Duke Development.  They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.  Trish's grandmother had a heart attack and died, and the other business owners are having a rough time.  Trish just KNOWS Duke did something underhanded.  So she uses some connections to get a job, and is using this opportunity as his temporary assistant to dig up some dirt on his "shady" business dealings.

This story is filled with Magical Thinking.  I liked this spin on the boss/secretary trope and I tend to love it when the revenge trope is initiated by the heroine.  Romancelandia is littered with heroes who want to get revenge against the heroine's father - so to have a heroine motivated by revenge puts a different spin on things.  But Trish is just - well, blind.  Look, it sucks that your grandmother's rented shop space gets sold out from under her and torn down - but that doesn't make it illegal.  And there is literally NO whiff, at all, that something sneaky happened here.  The business owners wanted to apply for historic landmark distinction, but they didn't own the building.  And when the owner died, his kids, quite frankly, didn't give two snits.  Take the money and run.  And Duke offered the money.  This sucks - it's not illegal.  But the fact that Trish is SO convinced that something OBVIOUSLY not kosher went down is, well, absurd.

Adam seems like an OK guy until his brothers' paranoia about their Mom (seriously, they seem to think she's the Professor Moriarty of Matchmaking) gets to him.  Then he jumps to all sorts of conclusions about Trish even though he has absolutely no proof.  For his mother to be behind Trish being his new PA would literally mean she pulled off the Tet Offensive of Potential Matchmaking.  It defies logic.  But Adam, supposedly this super smart business dude, totally buys into it and runs with it.  Well he'll show that gold digger Trish!  He's sleep with her, have a grand old time, and then dump her like a hot potato.  THAT WILL TEACH MOM!!!!

Seriously?!?!

None of this works.  It also really strains against the tone of the writing.  Carlisle has a lighter tone and style - a nice change of pace for the Desire line.  There's small touches of humor in this story, even if a lot of that humor fell flat for me because it revolves around Matchmaking Mama.  That said, as unsavory as I found the train of thoughts by both hero and heroine - it could have been more so if this story had been written in a heavier tone.  Like, say, in a traditional Presents style.  The character motivations didn't work for me, but the author's style did make this story readable even as I was frustrated by the authorial story choices.  There were also what I would call traditional elements here that didn't work for me.  The baggage of the adopted brothers to set up the angst for the trilogy.  The virgin heroine.  The fact that Adam ends this story smelling like a rose because even though it was HIS company that tore down Trish's grandmother's business, well - Adam didn't know anything about it and see - he's a really good guy!  Dude.  It would have been way more interesting if Adam had said, "Yeah, I tore that mother down.  I needed the parking space."  But....no.

None of this worked for me but - it was readable.  Faint praise, entering stage right.

Final Grade = C-

#TBRChallenge 2017: The Gangster's Kiss

The Book: The Gangster's Kiss by Ginger Ring

The Particulars: Historical romance, First in Series, Self-Published, 2016, Available in Digital and Print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I bought this at the RT Convention Giant Book Fair in Las Vegas 2016.  When I'm at conference book signings I try to impulse buy at least one new-to-me author.  It's good karma I like to throw out into the universe.  Anyway, the cover caught my eye and it's set in the 1920s, so I plunked down $10 to buy a print copy and as they say?  No good deed goes unpunished.

The Review: This was not a good book, which is a shame since there are the bones of a good story here.  There's even a quick tease of what could have been interesting characters.  But none of it is helped by flat writing, a romance that goes from zero to sixty in 3 seconds, and a hot-and-cold running heroine.

John O'Malley's sister, Eryn, is missing.  He's working the docks in Chicago, trying to get together the money to find her, when he comes to the aid of a man getting beaten to a pulp by hired goons. Mickey Flynn is so thankful he offers John a job - a job that isn't exactly legal - but it gets him to Wisconsin, which is where he heard his sister might be.  The gangster-types in Chicagoland have infiltrated the backwoods counties in Wisconsin, setting up vacation retreats and it being closer in proximity to Canadian booze.  John is driving a truck filled with whiskey when he almost runs over a man lying in the middle of the road.  It's the local judge, having a heart attack.  The judge's son, the local sheriff (cozy!), soon comes upon them and John aids the man in getting his father to a doctor - but it's too late.  The judge dies.

Daniel Sullivan is so grateful to John that he offers him a job - protecting his sister Grace, just back from St. Paul.  Something Bad happened in St. Paul, so Grace has come running home to Daddy - only now Daddy is dead, her brother seems to be on the take, and The Bad Man she fled St. Paul to get away from is now sniffing around her hometown.  Then John is hired to be her bodyguard and life suddenly gets a whole lot sweeter.

Oh how I wanted to love Grace.  We meet her when she's on the train heading home to Wisconsin, hungover after going on a bender to forget her troubles.  We also find out during this time that she essentially ran away from home because she didn't want to shrivel up and die in her tiny home town and she did away with her pesky virginity while playing flapper in St. Paul.  So I'm liking this girl already.  Instead the author then morphs her into someone who is supposedly "shy" and that's misconstrued by the locals as her being "stuck up" so Grace has no friends (boo hoo).  Oh, and she's the best darn cook ever!  Because of course she is.  One minute she's mooning over John, the next she's all feisty and fiery with him.  Hot for him one minute, cold the next.  What my grandmother would call "sassy" and not in a good way.  To give you some illustration of how problematic this girl is - she confesses to John that she left St. Paul after she witnessed three murders and after she spills out this shocking tale (she's drunk - because of course) - she comes on to him.  Then she begs him to sleep with her (as in, share her bed not...you know...) and when she wakes up the next morning she has no memory of spilling her guts to him.

Can we just shoot her now and beat the Christmas rush?

John is an OK sort, but he's the kind of guy who magically falls into things - including any clues he may get about his sister's whereabouts.  He's also fantastically stupid about his friend Mickey Flynn who is hiding something - and it's not a huge leap to guess what that something is.

I'm kind of glad I didn't DNF this because there's a twist towards the end that spurs us on to the conclusion.  It's a common device pulled from the Soap Opera Bag O' Tricks, but it's at least interesting.  Unfortunately the writing itself is wooden and could have benefited from, at the very least, a ruthless critique partner.  The history itself was OK some of the time, but there are some doozies.  Al Capone overseeing the loading of trucks with alcohol in 1928 even if it was backwoods Wisconsin where the law is on the take strains the seams considerably.  And the use of the term "club fed" raised my eyebrows so high I think a light bulb singed off some hair (for those that don't know "club fed" is a pun for "Club Med," which didn't exist until 1950 and hello, Wikipedia is your friend people!)

And yet, here I sit thinking about the second book in the series, The Gangster's Woman because Mickey Flynn is the hero and he takes up the task of finding John's sister, Eryn.  So apparently John decides to just, oh not pursue that search anymore now that he's found twu luv with Grace.  Ugh, whatever dude. Seriously Wendy, do not read the second book.  You didn't like this one.  It's OK to never know where Eryn disappeared to and what happened to her.  Just say no.

Final Grade = D

#TBRChallenge 2017: The Story Guy

The Book: The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

The Particulars: Contemporary romance novella, LoveSwept, 2013, part of the Lakefield novella series, digital only

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: When this novella came out everyone and their dog was reading it and squee'ing about it.  I wasn't purchasing a lot of ebooks during that period outside of Harlequin - but at the 2013 RWA Conference, Loveswept was giving away special print editions and I snagged one.

The Review: I haven't been reading. I haven't finished a book since late March and then it was an audiobook.  I'm in a cranky reading mood at the moment, so keep that in mind while reading this review.  I feel like I probably should have liked this more but there were things here that rubbed me the wrong way.  And since everyone and their dog seems to have loved this story - well, this could be another case of Wendy being cranky about hyped books.  Cranky Wendy gonna crank.

Carrie West is the type of heroine who keeps trying to convince the reader she's "happy" with her life but she's not really.  She's lonely.  And she strikes me as the sort of person who stays on the surface of everyone's life but never lets anyone get truly close.  For amusement, this thirty-something single librarian who lives in a studio apartment likes to read personal ads of the Craigslist variety.  When she reads Brian's ad, she responds.  Brian wants to meet someone on Wednesdays for kissing. Just kissing.  The first time Carrie and Brian meet in the park near the library where she works - their kisses are enough to set the park bench on fire.  But Brian has baggage.  Baggage that he is unwilling to share with Carrie, no matter how drawn he is to her.

On the surface this is just the sort of unique plot spin that I should find appealing, but the writing never really resonated with me.  There's a confessional style here, but the dialogue smacks too flowery, too convoluted.  For example, during an IM chat Brian says:

I can't...I'm not a one-night-stand guy.  I'm not wired to enjoy that.  I seems weird, I know, because what we did isn't that far away on the map from one-night-stand.  There is always this moment, when you take a woman home just to take a woman home, some moment right before it could get awesome but you don't know yet if it will, that you, or maybe not you, but me, gets all still inside.  Quiet.  And for me, that moment always seems like it lasts forever.  And it's enough time for me to live some kind of life from that moment to the end of time and back again.  With this woman I've taken home or gone home with, with my one-night stand, someone who isn't mine, but for that one crazy long heartbeat, I want to be mine.

My first thought was "What the hell did I just read?," my second thought was "Who the hell talks like this in Real Life?," and my third was "What GUY talks like this in Real Life?"  It's entirely possible I've only known Neanderthal Men who communicate through a series of semi-intricate grunts, but seriously.  No guy talks like this.  Says Wendy.  And it's my blog, so it must be true.

But everyone and their dog loves this novella so I persist until I get to the stereotypical Gay Best Friend who doles out pearls of wisdom like:

The part of yourself that opens herself up to a man based on nothing but a little intuition that there is goodness in him and that he kisses like the world's ending.  Do you want to know that part?  Because you don't have to.  You're right.  Your life is a nice one - there are no guarantees, but it's on the right path to stay a nice one.  Brian is not on this path.

Great.  So basically we've got a Gay Best Friend crossbred with Yoda.  Gay I am.  Offer sage advice I will.  Hmmmmm!  (Read that in a Yoda voice - it totally works!)

I'll admit, I'm cranky.  But I also don't feel like this is some deep love connection.  Basically these two kiss, feel some Insta-Lust, and I'm supposed to buy that it's a great love match.  And I'm not really convinced since it kind of smacks as a love at first sight thing (which I, admittedly, am not a big believer in).  I also had issues with Brian's Big Secret.  Delving too deeply into it veers all the way into Spoiler Territory, but in a nutshell?  I'm not buying it as Big Secret material.  Yes, his life is complicated but dude - man up.  Yes, your life is complicated and you have obligations but treating it all like some Deep Dark Secret just....well, it dehumanizes the other players in the Big Secret which just bothered the heck out of me.

I probably should grade this lower - but I can't.  I very well could be excessively cranky (well...more so than usual).  I feel like this is a story I should have enjoyed more than I did.  The plot should have worked for me and the style is in the same zip code as other authors I have enjoyed in the past (there are shades of Megan Hart, Molly O'Keefe and Charlotte Stein here).  But it just never gelled. I could just be cranky or...not.  I leave it up to you, dear blog reader, to decide.

Final Grade = C

#TBRChallenge 2017: Dare She Date The Dreamy Doc?

The Book: Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? by Sarah Morgan

The Particulars: Contemporary Romance, Harlequin Medical #451, 2010, Book #4 in Series, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I discovered Sarah Morgan through her Harlequin Presents in 2011, and shortly after that an online friend sent me this book when she stumbled across it in a library book sale.  It was also a RITA finalist and I try to pay attention to the RITA finalists for category romance.

The Review: I didn't start my TBR Challenge read until Sunday and wouldn't you know it?  I ended up DNF'ing that book.  So, once again, limited time and poor planning means I went rummaging through my Harlequin TBR Rubbermaid Tote of Doom.  Sarah Morgan is an autobuy for me (even if I am grossly behind on her backlist) so she fits well with this month's Comfort Read theme.

Once you get past one of the dippier titles in the Harlequin universe (and there are plenty of dippy titles to go around) this was a pretty solid read, although not without faults.  Jenna Richards has been divorced for less than a year and she's still in shock.  She married young, which means 33-year-old Jenna is also contending with a teenage daughter, Lexi, who is not all that happy with her mother at the moment.  Why?  Because Jenna has moved them from London to Glenmore, a tiny Scottish island in "the middle of nowhere."  I mean, the cell phone reception is crap.  Jenna is a nurse and the island is isolated enough that the medical staff is pretty much on call all the time.  Meeting the ferry to greet her?  Dr. Ryan McKinley who puts the yum in yummy.  He also has a past he's trying to move on from, but one look at Jenna and he's smitten.

There are some really well done aspects to this brief (185 pages) category romance.  Morgan does a great job of creating a small town contemporary romance on a light page count.  The setting is quaint (the hero lives in a lighthouse!), the residents amusingly meddling and sweet without being annoying and saccharine.  It's a perfect example of why I prefer my small town reading in the category format over a bloated single title word count.  Ryan is sexy and charming without being a notorious playboy or brooding angst factory.  Lexi is a woman who at 33 is still young but feels old before her time thanks to a surly teenage daughter and an ex who blindsided her.  I fell right into this world from the moment I read the first page.

What doesn't work so well?  The romance here is Grade A Insta-Love. Basically it's one of those romances where the couple sparks immediately and they seem to jump straight from "Hello, nice to meet you" to "I love you" without so much as a cup of coffee.  Ryan's baggage slightly annoys me (Ambitious First Wife) but it's not as egregious as other conflict of this ilk I've read in romance (still, I was a little annoyed).  And Jenna?  I did like her.  I did.  But dang if this woman isn't a martyr.  She's really overprotective of Lexi, which is somewhat understandable, but she's willing to throw herself into a pit of misery to placate a teenager who doesn't really need placating (here's an idea - talk to your kid!).  She also acts like 33 is 95.  She literally says to Ryan: "You deserve children Ryan.  I'm thirty-three.  I have no idea whether I can even have another child."

Seriously?!

She's a nurse. It's 2010, not the 18th century!

Then there's Lexi who acts like a typical surly teenager.  Lexi didn't bother me.  Actually I think she's the most authentic character in this story.  Lord but this child acts like a real teenager.  Which I guess serves as a warning if you're a reader who has a teenager at home and you're looking for a bit of "escapist reading."  You may want to steer clear of this one.

I liked this one, and it's a pretty good category romance.  It's not Morgan's best work (of what I've read), but she's created an interesting community in Glenmore and after DNF'ing my first choice, I positively sank into this story.  Worth a look for Morgan fans and readers who love all things small town contemporary.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2017: Tempted By Her Italian Surgeon

The Book: Tempted By Her Italian Surgeon by Louisa George

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Medical #742, 2015, out of print, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Pretty sure I got this at RWA 2016.  It's a category romance, I was at a conference, so naturally I picked it up.  I'm at the point where I can turn down "free books" at conferences, but not when it comes to category.  They're my kryptonite.

The Review: My habit of impulse grabbing category romances means it's an ideal format for the New-To-Me Author TBR Challenge prompt.  This was floating near the top of my Harlequin Rubbermaid Tote of Doom, and it was a safe grab since George has written in two lines I'm not well-read in (Harlequin Medical and Harlequin Kiss).  In other words, I was vaguely familiar with her name, but knew I had never read her before.

Lawyer Ivy Leigh hasn't even had a chance to settle into her new office at St. Carmen's Children's Hospital when she has her first fire to put out.  Seems one of the doctors has posted a picture of his bare backside (a delicious bare backside - but still) on the internet and it's gone viral.  To make matters worse?  In the background are a pair of green scrubs with the St. Carmen's logo as clear as day.  St. Carmen's is a children's teaching hospital and rather old school, so this kind of publicity will not do.  Ivy sets out to find the culprit and soon does.  Sexy as sin Italian surgeon, Dr. Matteo Finelli.

Matteo was not responsible for his butt becoming the latest internet sensation - rather it was a friend's prank.  But instead of getting upset about it, Matteo is all set to laugh it off.  I mean, really?  What's the big deal?  Well apparently it's a rather "big deal" to this new lawyer the hospital has hired which means Matteo now has to spend four whole days in social media "workshops" with the rest of the hospital staff.  Frankly he's got better things to do - like performing life-saving kidney transplants on sick children.  But "Poison Ivy" isn't budging, which means battle lines are being drawn.  He'll spend time in her pointless seminars and she'll spend time shadowing him in the operating theater watching the real work being done.

Basically what we have here is a Battle of Wills romance.  It doesn't quite qualify as Enemies-To-Lovers (no shared history between the couple), but things start off on an antagonistic foot.  George plays things safe here with neither Matteo or Ivy being deliberating cruel or mean.  They're both good at their jobs, passionate about their work, and that passion naturally spills over into their early interactions with each other.  As often happens in romances of this ilk, the passionate nature of both characters is hiding past emotional baggage - Matteo smarting from a relationship gone wrong and Daddy Issues, Ivy from a traumatic injury and Mommy Issues.

This was an easy read but not one that ever elevated itself, nor did it sink to the depths of dreck.  The very definition of an OK read.  Not bad enough for me to DNF, but not good enough to make me hug my print copy to my chest and fall into a swoon; and I'm still trying to put my finger on why.  Ivy is just the sort of wound-tight heroine I tend to like but Matteo is rather one-note.  Yes, the past baggage is there, but I kept waiting for him to experience his Black Moment. To get knocked down a few pegs.  And that never really happens.  Ivy goes off, running scared, but the reader doesn't see a ton of fallout from Matteo's perspective.  Which means he comes off a bit like Teflon Man. Nothing sticks. I guess I wanted him to wallow more.  The Italian playboy coming to grips with the fact that he's finally found The One and she can't seem to run away fast enough.  Don't get me wrong, he gets angry.  He gets ticked off.  But there's no good emotional wallow.

It's the sort of book that won't have me running out to buy up all of the author's backlist, but I'm also not going to turn my nose up if another falls in my lap.  And as luck would have it - thanks to my impulse Harlequin grabbing tendencies at conferences?  I've got another one of hers in the TBR.  Which means my damning with faint praise recommendation is this - if it's already in your TBR, there are worse ways to kill a Sunday afternoon.  But it also means I'm not going to tell you to drop your life and buy this book right now.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2017: Swept Away By the Tycoon

The Book: Swept Away by the Tycoon by Barbara Wallace

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Romance #4426, 2014, Out of Print, Available Digitally, Book #2 in Best Friends trilogy

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: True story: I take just about any category romance that isn't tied down and offered to me at conferences - and this was one I picked up at RWA either 2014 or 2015.  The longer answer is that Wallace is pretty much an auto-buy these days - having liked more of her books than disliked.  I loved the first book in this series and enjoyed the third book.  Which means in true Wendy fashion...I'm finally getting around to reading the second book.  So typical.

The Review: It's hard to explain if you just don't "get" the format - but category romance is my equivalent to literary comfort food.  Not to say it can't be emotional and challenging and all the things that detractors like to claim it isn't - but, for me, when an author hits all the right emotional beats in a category it's basically macaroni and cheese.  I love it beyond all reason and immediately suspect anybody who tries to tell me it's not good for me.  Dude.  Macaroni and cheese is just flat-out good for the soul.

Chloe Abrams has terrible taste in men - look no further than the barista at her favorite coffee shop. Certainly they have been casually dating, but flirting with a customer and handing her his phone number while Chloe is standing right there?  Oh hells no.  To make matters more humiliating the scruffy customer who she has taken to mentally calling "The Slacker" is providing a running commentary during the whole episode.  Really, she has no choice.  She pours her freshly made peppermint latte over the now-ex's head and struts out of the coffee shop like a Queen.

"The Slacker" is Ian Black, a now disgraced tycoon - ousted from his own company and working his way through Step 8.  Yep, Ian is in recovery for his alcohol addiction and is working to make amends with all the people he's done wrong...and it's a long list.  He spends the majority of his day sitting in the coffee shop, which he happens to conveniently own, writing letters of apology.  Chloe, with her high heeled boots (and she's a former college basketball star - so the girl ain't short to begin with), curly hair and take no prisoners attitude pushes all of Ian's buttons right from the start.  But he's a mess and has bigger fish to fry.  Namely reconnecting with his now college-age son.

What I so enjoyed about this story was the slow build and the light touch to the conflict.  Wallace kept it all humming along without drowning the reader in a sea of angst.  The relationship between Chloe and Ian gets started through a series of conversations.  He owns the coffee shop and she loves coffee.  It's a relationship that starts out of habit and daily routine and kicks into gear through banter and mild flirtation.  Chloe is stung by a series of poor relationship decisions and an absent father.  Ian is working on his recovery with the same single-minded focus that led him to "show up" his own father by joining the military then building his own company from the ground up.  These are two driven people haunted by their pasts and various regrets.

The focus and theme of this romance is entirely wrapped up in forgiveness and Wallace tackles the topic in a way I'm not sure I've seen before in a romance.  Namely forgiveness only works when the person you want to forgive you agrees.  Forgiveness is going to happen on the wronged parties' timeline. Period. This is the stumbling block for Ian - and the lesson he ultimately has to learn over the course of this story.  He's driven, focused, and thinks he can tackle his 12 steps in the same way he built his company - and hello?  He can't. Because sometimes we don't always get what we want - no matter our drive or ambition or how badly WE want it.  Chloe has to learn that pushing people away before they can push you away isn't a healthy way to deal with rejection.

The romance moves along on a short timeline (seriously, like a week) but these are characters that talk to each other and find themselves thrown together by circumstance (thank you terrible weather!). The I-love-yous do seem quick, but Wallace avoids a marriage proposal or pregnancy in the final chapter, so that makes things a bit more palatable.  I could have done without Ian's nickname for Chloe (Curlilocks) but then I'm the sort that loathes nicknames in romances, being the cranky fusspot that I am. This one didn't surpass the other two books in the trilogy on my rating scale but it was still a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and Wallace tugged my heart-strings at all the right moments.  And given my cranky fusspot nature?  That's a win.

Final Grade = B

Sign-Up Now: #TBRChallenge 2017

Sign-up now for your chance to participate in the 2017 TBR Challenge! 

What is the TBR Challenge?  Once a month participants pull a long-neglected book out of their TBR (To-Be-Read) piles, read it, and provide "commentary" on that book on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

Commentary on your chosen read can happen anywhere online: your blog, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads etc.  Hashtag = #TBRChallenge

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) Dear Lord, you're going to make us do homework?  Yes.  Honestly, it's fun.  For participants of the challenge (and those who just follow along), the 3rd Wednesday of the month is a guarantee day of "book talk."  And, you know, older books - not the latest, greatest thing that's been promo'd half to death the past several weeks.

2) Dear Lord, you have themes?!  Yes.  I took over hosting this challenge in 2011 and the idea of themes came with it.  Some participants like the themes (which I try to keep broad) to help them focus when faced with the insurmountable crush of their TBRs.  However, the themes are optional!  The goal of this challenge is to read something (anything!) out of your TBR.  If you don't like the theme(s) - don't follow it.

3) So do I win anything if I complete the challenge?  Yes. Personal satisfaction.  I like to keep this challenge stress-free, so if you skip a month, post your commentary late (or early), go off theme etc. - the TBR Police will not be showing up at your door.

Great!  How do I sign up?

1) Leave a comment on this blog post, e-mail me or hit me up on Twitter.  I need whatever name you post under and a link to where you'll be posting your commentary.  So, for example: Wendy, The Misadventures of Super Librarian.  I will include your name and link on this dedicated page for the challenge so folks can follow along.

Commentary "due dates" and themes for next year are below:

January 18 - We Love Short Shorts! (category romance, short stories, novella etc.)
February 15 - New-To-You Author
March 15 - Comfort Read (Favorite Author? Favorite Trope? Favorite Sub Genre?)
April 19 - Contemporary
May 17 - Something Different (outside your comfort zone, unusual setting, non-romance etc.)
June 21 - Favorite Trope (a favorite theme - amnesia? secret baby? fairy tale? friends-to-lovers? etc.)
July 19 - Series Catch-Up (a book from a series you're behind on)
August 16 - Kicking It Old School (publication date 10 years or older)
September 20 - Historical
October 18 - Paranormal or Romantic Suspense
November 15 - Recommended Read (a book recommended to you by someone)
December 20 - Holiday Themes

It really is a lot of fun, plus a handy way to delude yourself into thinking that you're making progress on your TBR pile.